Improvement in lighting railway-cars



A. LONGSTREET.

Railway Car.

Patented. April 27, 1869.

WZZIZGSSQS) UNITED STATES PATENT OEEIoE.

AARON LONGSTREET, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO GEORGE M. PULLMAN,OF SAME PLACE.

IMPROVEMENT IN LIGHTING RAILWAY CARS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 89,539, dated April 27,1869.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, AARON LONGSTREET,

. my improvements as applied to a sleeping-car,

the slide of the lamp being open. Fig. 2 represents a perspective viewof my improvements as applied to a day-car, the slide of the lamp beingclosed. Fig. 3 represents a vertical section through the center of thelamp and recess.

One of the most unpleasant features of railroad travel results from theimperfect modesin which passenger-cars are lighted, whereby thepassengers are compelled to ride long distances after dark without beingable to read, work, or amuse themselves with games. The lamps are placedeither in the center of the car or upon the sides, and in both casesthey are lo cated near the roof, and at long intervals.

-My improvements consist in locating the lights a little way above thelevel of the sills,

or at about the height of the backs of the seats; also, in providing alight for each sec tion in a sleeping-car, or for each seat in aday-car; and also in the devices employed to accomplish the foregoingpurposes without danger to the car or passengers.

A represents a lamp, which may be a candle or gas burner or lamp of anyform, located in arecess, D, in the panel between two adjacent windows,and below the tops of the frames. During the daytime this recess isclosed by a sliding panel, B, which may be a looking-glass or a plain orornamental panel of wood or metal. Between this sliding door and thelamp a plate, 0, of glass or isinglass may be interposed, though this isnot absolutely necessary. Air is admitted through an opening below theglass plate.

In a sleeping-car, whether transverse or 1011- gitudinal seats wereemployed, one of these lamps or lights would be placed between thewindows in each section, while in a day-car it might be desirable toplace onelof them in each panel.

The recess may be made much more shallow than it is shown in thedrawing; and, instead of the sliding panel,,a hinged door may beemployed, and both the door and panel may be made in the form of ahemisphere orjbullseye, so as to project to some extent into the car.The position of the lamp in the panel may also vary somewhat, providedit be located so far below the top of the window-frame as to afford topassengers in the adjoining seats a convenient and suflicient light forreading, sewing, or gaming.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim therein as new, anddesire to secure by Letters Patent,.is

1. The lamp A, in combination with the recess D in the panel ofrailway-oar, substantially as described.

2. The lamp A, in combination with the recess D and sliding panel B,substantially as and for the purposes described.

3. The combination, with each seat or pair of seats in a railway-car, ofa lamp, candle, or burner, located between the windows, substantiall yas described.

AARON LONGSTREET.

Witnesses:

M. BvPHILIPP, CHAS. W. ANGELL.

